Vikings & Beekeepers

I was away, so I’m a little late with this, but better late than never.

Those late spring/early summer months are probably my favorite music listening times, where I just find myself devouring music at a rapid pace and discovering new classic albums in the process. These last three months were no exception. In just a short time frame, I was discovering albums that feel like they will last forever as all time favorites. In recent years, I’ve occasionally felt like I was liking a lot of new music less, but these last few months have proven that I’m not losing my mojo at all. There are still some dynamite sounds being produced.

1. Torche Meanderthal

Meanderthal is the ultimate super hero movie soundtrack. I’m not going to go through it song by song, but I’m willing to put good money on the fact that Meanderthal syncs up with Spiderman 2 better than Dark Side/Wizard of Oz. Honestly, there’s the origin song (album opening “Triumph Of Venus”), the villain kicking everyone’s ass song (“Speed Of The Nail”) and our hero’s dramatic, well-timed return to form in the wake of uncertainty and adversity (the soaring “Across The Shields”). Torche’s brand of major key, melodically-focused sludge metal is a breath of fresh air in a world overly saturated with faceless stoner metal bands flaunting the same tired Nintendo riffs. While Meanderthal may very easily be the best metal album I’ve heard in the lost four years, there’s a really good chance it could be the best pop album at the same time. Sure, the album treads in the speed, grandeur and thrust of the best kind of metal, but it also owns in the melody, harmony and hooks department. It’s the best of both worlds. In a word, Meanderthal is triumphant.

2. Bonnie “Prince” Billy Lie Down In The Light

Every couple years in Will Oldham’s prolific career (the guy puts out roughly four albums a month), someone points to one of his newest releases and crowns it “Oldham’s best work since his 1999 masterpiece I See A Darkness.” Whether it’s the underrated Darkness follow up Master And Everyone, the muscular duet album with Matt Sweeney, Superwolf, or any of Oldham’s other releases as Bonnie “Prince” Billy, there’s an album for everyone waiting to be crowned their second favorite Bonnie “Prince” Billy album. For me, that album is Lie Down In The Light, a bright, big-hearted batch of songs that prove the yang to Darkness’ ying. Oldham underpins a lot of these songs with a country lilt that is all the more pronounced when Ashley Webber applies her lovely, dare-I–say–sultry coo to album standouts like the ode to public blow jobs, “So Everyone.” Oldham still likes to dabble in some seedy terrain with his topics, but Lie Down In The Light coats his topics with a warmth and spontaneity that he hasn’t touched in a decade.

3. Plastic Constellations We Appreciate You

Tired of being the perennial opening band for The Hold Steady and Les Savy Fav, the Cons have decided to call it a day at least temporarily. However, before riding off into the sunset as one of the great spastically anthemic punk bands that no one ever really listened to, the Minneapolis foursome have decided to grace their small but loyal fanbase with an album that could arguably be their finest work. It’s really more of the same for those who heard Crusades and Mazatlan: huge, outside-the-lines guitar riffs, big dumb group vocals and urgency and energy to burn. The big difference is that We Appreciate You has all these things, but perhaps just a little bit more. After years of slaying dragons both metaphorical and literal, it’s a bit bittersweet to see them calling it a day with a big group hug. But keep in mind, that is one sweaty, battered and bruised group hug.

4. Girl Talk Feed The Animals

I haven’t spent a ton of time with this album, but the time I have spent has been a dizzying, giddy sugar rush of immediate pleasure and fun, even moreso than Animals’ predecessor, Night Ripper. While the general appeal of these Girl Talk records is the constant parade of endless musical references (sort of like a musical version of The Family Guy), it’s still a major artistic achievement in re-contextualization. There’s something amazing about hearing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone” over MC Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” or Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” over a sped up “Thunderstruck.” And while the whole thing isn’t without its missteps (“Let Me See You” contains a handful of bum mash-ups), the whole thing moves at such a fast paced that the gaffes are easy to overlook. And the fact that you can play the whole thing as an endless loop without a breath of fresh air makes this the 24-hour party people album of the year.

5. No Age Nouns

I’m so sick of these music reviews about all these tinny lo-fi bands hiding all this melody and all these hooks behind layers of murk and tape hiss. By now, that opinion has to be one of the biggest clichés going today. We got the point on Bee Thousand, we know how the story goes 15 years later. For me, what’s truly astonishing about Nouns is the power these songs. Sure, there are all these sweet melodies and pop tendencies under all that superfluous noise, but the truth is that No Age never sacrifice the real jolt of energy that these songs can provide. There are some monster songs here, all that tape hiss is just a ploy to make you think that this is high art. It isn’t. It’s simply a pretty rad rock album.

6-10 (in no particular order) The Dodos Visiter; Lil’ Wayne Tha Carter III; Wale The Mixtape About Nothing; Crystal Antlers EP; Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 2:43 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.